


Merry Christmas, Darling

by AryaNoName (merrymegtargaryen)



Series: Westeros Academy [8]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-18
Updated: 2013-12-18
Packaged: 2018-01-05 00:51:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1087640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merrymegtargaryen/pseuds/AryaNoName
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arya doesn't know what to get Gendry for Christmas. Apparently, neither does anyone else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Merry Christmas, Darling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [judypoovey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/judypoovey/gifts).



“What are you getting Gendry for Christmas?”

Arya slurped up the remains of her Coke. “I don’t know. Why?”

Bran shrugged. “I just wondered. I mean, I didn’t know if you were doing anything special for your first Christmas as, you know, boyfriend and girlfriend.”

Arya paled. “Am I supposed to?”

Bran smirked. “Well, you don’t have to, but if I know Gendry, he’ll pull out all the stops.”

“Well, shit.” Arya sucked through her straw even though nothing was coming up. “What do you think I should do?”

“Well, I would feel weird saying it to my sister…”

Arya threw her straw wrapper at him. “Something he can hold, stupid. Not like that, you pervert!”

Bran snickered. “Well, he likes video games, right? Maybe get him one he hasn’t been able to buy yet.”

It wasn’t a half bad idea. She broached the subject with Gendry the next time they were hanging out, just to be sure.

“You don’t have Dance with Dragons 4, do you?” she asked nonchalantly. 

He shook his head. “Nah, but I overheard Uncle Stannis telling Dad that’s what I wanted for Christmas, so I’ll have it then.”

Arya sighed.

.

The rest of her brothers weren’t any help.

“You could get him a new hoodie, seeing as how you steal all of his,” Robb pointed out.

“And t-shirts,” Theon added.

“I do not steal his clothes,” Arya scoffed.

“Oh yeah? Then why is that shirt at least three times your size?” Jon laughed. “You’re a kleptomaniac for Gendry’s clothes.”

Arya stormed upstairs.

.

She tried talking to Lommy and Hot Pie about it.

“You should write a song and sing it for him,” Lommy suggested.

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“No it isn’t; I would love it if a girl sang to me,” Lommy said indignantly.

“You would love it if a girl talked to you.” Arya rolled her eyes.

“Well, they say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” said Hot Pie. “You could bake him a cake or something. I could help you.”

It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to do.

Until, that is, Gendry mentioned that Selyse was going on a diet and forbade anything that was high in caloric intake from the house.

“And you’re going along with it?” Arya asked in disbelief. “You’re not even sneaking food or anything?”

“Have you ever tried sneaking anything past Stannis?” Gendry said dully. “I’ll give you a hint, it doesn’t work.”

.

Arya tried the Edrics next, but they were completely useless.

“You should get him a sweater.”

“Or a watch.”

“Or his own X-box.”

“Or a puppy!”

“Ooh, a car!”

“Can you get off your Rich White Boy Cloud of Delusion please?” Arya snapped.

.

She tried asking his father, but that proved to be a mistake.

“He’s a boy, isn’t he?” Robert boomed. “What do all boys want?”

“Robert, I would really rather you didn’t give my fifteen-year-old daughter sex advice,” Ned panicked. 

.

She tried going to Gendry’s roommate, but this proved to be a poor idea.

“You could get him a vacuum cleaner, for starters,” Podrick grumbled as he straightened his side of the room. It was noticeably cleaner than Gendry’s side. “Or a pair of headphones.”

“He has headphones.”

“Well, tell him to use them!” Podrick said irritably. 

.

Every other boy she asked was just as useless.

“You could get him a nice book,” said Sam.

“Porn,” said Trystane Martell.

“Cologne,” said Loras.

“Beer,” said Renly. “Oh, shit, I mean, you’re too young. Don’t tell my brother I said that.”

.

Arya was ready to give up.

She went to visit him at Stannis and Selyse’s house a few days before Christmas. 

“I have to finish shoveling the drive,” he complained. “Go on inside, Selyse will make you some non-fat hot chocolate or something.”

Selyse, as it turned out, was on her elliptical, so Arya went to bother Stannis in his study.

“Stannis, you’ve basically raised Gendry,” she said, spinning his globe. “What do you think he wants for Christmas?”

“Don’t touch that, it’s an antique,” he said without looking up from his paperwork. “You know what you could get him? A toolbox. He’s always trying to build things in my garage.”

She felt so stupid for not having thought of it sooner. “You’re pretty smart, Stannis.”

“So I’m told,” he said dryly. “Now please get out.”

.

Arya invited Gendry over to her house on Christmas Eve so that they could exchange gifts. She kept nervously touching the poorly-wrapped toolbox; it wasn’t a romantic gift by any means, and she was worried Gendry wouldn’t like it.

When he finally showed up, he looked annoyed. “I know what this is about.”

She blinked at him. “What are you talking about?”

“I know you want to break up with me,” he said in what she thought was a rather dramatic tone of voice. 

“Excuse me—”

“I know you’ve been talking to a lot of guys lately,” he continued. “Missing the single life?”

“You’re being a butthead,” she snapped. “I was asking them for Christmas present advice but their advice was all stupid.”

“Oh.” Gendry looked taken aback. “Well that’s…uh…not what I was expecting.”

“Oh my gods.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, here’s your Christmas present, anyway.” She thrust the box at him.

“This is really heavy,” he noted, undoing the paper. “I feel bad; I got you something, but I left it at home because I thought…you know…” He stared at the toolbox. 

“Do you like it?” she asked nervously. “I know it’s not, like, romantic or anything…”

“It’s perfect,” he said with disbelief.

“Really?”

He smiled at her. “I really needed my own tools.” Suddenly he smirked. “Did Stannis tell you that?”

“No, I thought of it myself,” she lied. “But what did you get me?”

He actually turned red. “Well, like I said, I left it at home,” he said. “But, uh, I have a back-up.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. My, uh, dad gave me some advice.”

Robert Baratheon, Arya decided when she pulled her pants back on a couple hours later, gave some fantastic advice.


End file.
